Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

The Parental and Community Engagement Program is a community-driven program for parents and carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. Contrary to Senator Siewert's question, as announced in the 2014 budget, the Australian government will continue to support a number of programs at national level, including programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. We have decided to continue the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) program for a further five years and from 1 January 2014 funding will be provided through an annual appropriation.

Senator Siewert, I will take on notice specific information about the centre that you mention. But, in doing so, I would like to remind my Senate colleagues of the nature of the program, as it supports families and communities to be involved in their children's education by helping them connect with schools to get the best results for their children, helping them build relationships with principals and teachers and supporting them to help children and young people to learn at home. Indeed, since the program started in 2009, over $100 million has been provided by the Australian government to support 583 diverse projects across all states and territories, aimed at approximately 53,000 parents and carers and a further 28,000 community members. Parents play a vital role in their children's learning and development and the PaCE Program continues to make a real difference in this area. I have a number of examples of the effective operation of the PaCE Program. I am unable to respond to the specific centre raised and I have already said that I will take that part of the question on notice.